20. joulukuuta 2016

Want to have everything you've always dreamed of? I'm sure you do but unfortunately there are no shortcuts to your dream life. If you want your dream life you're going to have to work for it. "Your dreams don't work unless you do." I Love that quote! It's so true! You DO need to work hard to get where you want to be. And yet even knowing this we - or I at least - still don't take the necessary actions to make stuff happen. Maybe we're scared, maybe we're unsure.. or maybe we just haven't really thought about it. So if any of this sounds familiar to you then a vision board might just be the right tool for you!

Out of sight - out of mind

This is soooo true! When we don't see something for a while we start to forget and lose our focus. The more we see our dreams in front of us the more we think about them. And the more we think about what we want the more we focus on getting what we want. And the more we focus on getting what we want the more we actually get up and start doing stuff. Such a beautiful positive cycle isn't it?

The problem is that we are always so busy running our day-to-day lives that we might not even notice that we are neglecting our dreams. We only focus on the most urgent tasks of the moment and then years later we wonder why we haven't gotten any closer to our dreams. Sound familiar?

This is why I feel it's so beneficial to have a vision board in some shape or form. It doesn't have to be an actual board if you don't want all your hopes and dreams to be viewed by everyone who walks into your home. It can be as simple as a notebook or even a Pinterest board. Something where you collect pictures, words, stories - anything that illustrates the life you want to be living.

Your mind begins to work when you don't even think about it

The way vision boards work in our minds is truly amazing. So let's say you have that vision board full of the things you want the most. Maybe it's a specific decor style, a certain type of a house, a dream job or a place where you want to live or visit. What happens here is that by looking at your vision board on a daily basis your mind starts to recognize these elements elsewhere as well and you begin to notice possibilities that seem like "they weren't there before".

What I mean by this is that if for example you have a picture of your dream bedroom on your vision board, what happens is that later on - when your strolling around a shopping center for example - you start to notice all the items that go with that dream bedroom of yours. You start to notice all the possibilities around you that you normally would have just walked past with your busy blurry eyes.

Find out what type of vision board works for you

Like I said before, a vision board doesn't have to be an actual board that you hang on the wall for everyone to see. If you want a more private vision board use a notebook! Or if you want to utilize the internet use a Pinterest board! Or simply create a folder on your computer and save stuff there. The form doesn't matter. What matters is that it's something you look at every. single. day. Of course a physical board on your wall makes it easier not to forget it - since the whole idea for vision board was so that you wouldn't forget what it is you're working towards.

Here's how you do your own vision board:

Figure out what's the best form of a vision board for you. A board, a notebook, a Pinterest board?

What are your dreams? Add things to the board that represent those dreams.

What motivates you? Add those things to your vision board. Are they quotes, words, pictures, a feeling, a title or perhaps success stories?

Make this vision board a part of your morning routine. This way your dreams stay fresh on your mind the whole day long.

Think what one thing - big or small or even just a teeny-tiny one - you can do today that will get you one step closer to that life.

Repeat every day!

The most amazing part of this process is the looking back part. After you've done this for a while you can start looking back and seeing exactly how far you've come from where you started. Now that's motivating!

13. joulukuuta 2016

I bet there are a lot of things in life you want to change or accomplish and if you're anything like me you probably have about the same New Year's resolutions every year where you say how THIS YEAR you're going to do this and that. But the whole concept of trying to change everything over night is a recipe for disaster. So instead of doing New Year's resolutions
that you can't keep learn how to set goals for yourself. Sounds easy right? Set a goal for the next year, great, done! However if you want to have any chance of actually achieving that goal don't just leave it at that. Learn how to go deeper and set short term goals throughout the year that support those main goals you have.

Why short
term goals?

So why
can't we just set our main goal and start working on that? Well, it has been said that
the most effective way to achieve goals is to set them for the next 90 days. It's long enough time to actually get ahead and see results but not so long
that it becomes unmanageable and overwhelming.

I've
noticed that by setting my goals only for the next three months at a time I stay more
focused on the most important things at the moment. Also by creating 90 day goals it's easier to understand the amount of work you need to do in order to actually achieve that goal.

So obviously
majority of the goals that we have in life cannot be done in three months but they CAN BE chopped down to 90 day chunks. So what you can do is to choose 1 to
3 main goals that you want to achieve next year and then think about the steps
you need to complete in order to achieve those goals and chop those steps into
smaller individual 90 day goals.

Be
specific!

The most
important thing when setting your goals is to be specific. You should set short term goals
that are measurable. The biggest mistake you can do is to set abstract goals like "I will read more books" or "I
will learn a new language". Instead you should set goals like "I will
read 3 books" or "I will learn one new word or phrase of a
new language every day for 90 days". See the difference?

Create a
weekly plan

Now we're
getting really specific! So we have that main goal that we've chopped into different short term goals. Now it's time to chop that first 90 day goal into a weekly plan of action.

So create a
weekly plan of how you are going to achieve that first 90 day goal. Focus
on getting to THAT goal and only after achieving that you can start
planning steps for the next 90 day goal. This way you don't get
overwhelmed of all the things you need to do to get to your main goal.

Reward yourself
for every short term goal you achieve!

Now this is
the fun part! You've achieved your first short term goal. Woohoo! You're
awesome! Remember to reward yourself for this amazing achievement. Reward system
gives you something to look forward to and keeps you motivated on the days you
feel like giving up. So set a reward. It can be whatever you want. Maybe a new bag or
a trip somewhere? You decide what works best for you.

Let's
recap:

Forget about New Year's resolutions. They don't work.

Set 1 to 3
main goals for the next year.

Based on your main goals set short
term goals - those 90 day goals - that support your main goals. HOW are you going to get there?

Hello lovelies! I can't believe it's been a week since I last talked to you. Last week was so incredibly busy for me as I was working, finished off 4 courses, edited a video for my YouTube channel, created a blog post and then we - my boyfriend and I - made a weekend trip to Turku. Now I finally get to breathe a little! And that means I now also have more time for this little blog of mine. So let's dive into todays topic! Here are some pics from our weekend trip to Turku.

The entire reason why we decided to go to Turku instead of any other city was because our all time favorite restaurant is there. This amazing restaurant is called Rico. We fell in love with Rico the last time we visited Turku. I believe that there are many great restaurants in Turku but since we had already been waiting for years to get back to Rico we ended up eating there on both days. Rico's menu is filled with delicious dishes and honestly it can be really difficult to choose between them. I highly suggest trying out Rico if you're ever in the Turku area.